Davis Law Group, P.S.

Phone Technology to Prevent Teenagers From Distracted Driving

With the amount of teenagers distracted behind by the wheel, parents are using new technology to ensure that their children are not texting, talking or surfing the web while driving. 

Jack Lavender, a father of a 21-year-old daughter and 18-year-old son, is using a product called Cellcontrol, which parents can buy for $7.95 a month for up to six phones, to prevent his kids from using their phones while driving. 

"They live so much on the phone and they do so much of their communication using texting. I know how dangerous it is, so for me, it's really reassuring to know that they're not doing it," Lavender said.

Parents believe the technology is making the roads safer since nearly half of young drivers using their cell phone while driving. 

There are also many applications that can be downloaded to prevent phone use while moving.

"Driving while distracted is quickly becoming the new DUI/DWI," says Daniel Maier, vice president of sales at Illume Software, based in Needham, Mass. It was founded 3½ years ago to produce the iZup line of distracted-driving prevention products for Android and Blackberry devices.

Another software that is gaining popularity is called iZup, which costs $20 annually. The software blocks all incoming calls, emails and texts to the phone while it is in motion. 

If you want peace of mind to make sure your teen is not distracted while driving, there is a lot of great technology out there. 

Types of technology: 

•Software that uses on-phone GPS or in-vehicle Bluetooth systems to determine when the vehicle is moving. 

•Devices that connect with the vehicle's on-board diagnostics port or integrate into vehicle electronics or infotainment platform, shutting off gadgets while the vehicle is moving. They include Cellcontrol, Key2SafeDriving and Taser International's Protector. 

•Detection, jamming, monitoring and sensors. They include Trinity-Noble's Guardian Angel, which locks the keys of a cellphone when a vehicle is going over a pre-set speed. 

"If you use technology to address distracted driving, then I believe we will create a new generation of safer drivers because they'll never use the bad behaviors in the first place that we brought into the car," says Chuck Cox, senior vice president of Cellcontrol. The company, based in Baton Rouge, was founded in 2009 to develop technology to address distracted driving.